Chapter 171: Chapter 163 – Onward to the Edge

Considering that we were just starting a long and arduous journey through the wilds on foot for the next month or so, everyone's mood was quite high.

The voices raised all around was quite cheery, discussing things like what they would like to do when they've reached their new homes, or what sort of things they expect.

Especially stories about the various places that some of the people have been to was quite popular, as a few of the women were merchants or adventurers before the events that brought them here.

"But you know, it's really cold up there. The dwarves don't mind since they just stay inside their mountain cities where it's warm, but travelling to and from them was terrible. But because of that, the goods they make is worth a ton if you can bring them back. I sold one of the spare spearheads I bought there for cheap once I got back where it was warm, and that alone paid for "

(Speaking of...)

"Have you ever been to any of the dwarven cities Philia?"

The orphanage director was a dwarf. At least she looked like one.

I hadn't ever gone north to see the dwarven lands, so I was a bit curious. It sounded like the mountainous region was cold most of the year, but since the dwarven cities were built inside of the mountains themselves, they tapped into the geothermal energies to keep the place nice and warm.

My cold resistance made that a bit moot, and Alicia and Fate seemed to not really notice the cold either, but for others, it was probably a life saver.

"I was born in Hyperborea actually."

"Really?"

A part of me was expecting her to say she was actually born in Linsington or something, so I was actually a bit surprised.

"Yes, though I left when I was quite young, so I don't even remember which city it was."

"How come that happened?"

"There's not much to say. My parents were merchants, and they wanted to sell dwarven goods directly to the humans. They thought it would be more profitable to do it directly than to wait for southern merchants to come to them."

"I didn't expect that. Your parents being merchants?"

"I'm shocked. I thought it was obvious that I was the rich and beautiful daughter of great merchants, do I?"

"Well..."

I didn't know how she managed it, but Philia somehow made a sexy pose despite balancing a toddler on her back.

In turn, I turned my head away at the blatant teasing.

"Don't worry. It was a long time ago."

(But you're not even going to suggest that any of the stuff you mentioned was an exaggeration?)

"So, what sort of place was it anyways?"

"Hmm...if I remember right, we lived on the middle levels back then, a bit closer to the upper side."

"The upper side?"

"Yes. Dwarven cities are built so that the more prestigious families lived in the lower levels."

That sounded like the reverse of how most other places were made.

"Why was it done like that?"

"Because it's warmer there."

"Huh?"

"The warmth of our cities came from underground. The deeper you dig, the warmer the rocks became. And also, to live in the deepest levels, you needed to be able to afford the cost of maintaining the wind pipes that are used to circulate fresh outside air inside."

"Ah."

"Other than that, I remember that the city was pretty cramped."

"Since it was difficult to build new space?"

"Yea. You couldn't really dig outwards as the whole mountain could collapse if you dug too much, so digging down was the only way as we had ways to support the extra height. But even then it eventually got too hot to dig any further."

If I remembered right, there was the deepest hole in the world somewhere in Russia. The reason why they stopped digging was because the earth got so hot that the drills started to melt or something.

There was no way people could dig nearly as deeply if you had to dig by hand as well as live in the new space afterwards.

"What happened if the population grew too much for even that?"

"We'd start a new city in another mountain."

"Ah."

"Otherwise, someone would have to leave. My mom and dad chose to leave rather than risk being kicked out."

"Your city was already near its limit?"

"I think it was already well past its limit for a while by that point. They seemed to have exiled a lot of people for a while due to this. And it seemed like it was better to leave on your own than be exiled, since an exile wouldn't be allowed to come back."

"But your parents could come back to trade at least?"

"That was the theory."

"Then what happened?"

"Nothing much. They succeeded in trading, but I didn't really take after them that well. After doing poorly as a merchant for a few years, I quit and took over Your Sweet Home."

I gave Philia the stink eye for her wordplay, but all she gave me in return was a cheeky smile and a wink.

"Anyways, I was already helping out here and there as well as donating what little I made. I was much happier this way anyways."

"I can tell."

Despite how difficult things had gotten, Philia had never gotten discouraged and continued to do her best for the kids. It was almost like she was born to take care of other people's kids or something.

"You know, if you want, we can try inviting your parents over as well. I don't know how well a pair of merchants will do when we don't do much outside trading in the first place, but they're welcome to make a home there."

"No, it's fine."

"Really? It's no problem at all."

"No, not that. They're not around anymore anyways. As you know, an orphan makes the best orphanage director after all!"

Philia gave me a smile as blinding as the sun, but it did little to brighten my own mood after it took a nosedive.

"I'm sorry..."

"Don't be. It's been a long time. They died carrying goods to the front lines during the upsurge in the war almost forty years ago."

"But still..."

"They died doing what they believed in, as I intend to as well. I have nothing but pride for them, even if I never could live up to their legacy the way they expected originally."

I studied Philia's bright expression. All I could see was pride and happiness in it. If there was any sadness or regret at all, I was either to poor to see it, or she was too good at hiding it.

"Personally, I think they'd be proud of what you've done. Most people would say you didn't amount to much, but I think instead you were able to become something few others could achieve. You did something I don't think could ever do."

I liked kids, and enjoyed playing with them as well as raising my own. But caring for other people's kids like they were my own for decades on end? I didn't have the confidence to be able to last for long doing that.

"You're quite good at saying the words an old woman like me need to hear, you know that?"

The gentle smile that the old dwarf gave me felt much more reassuring than the overly bright one she gave me before.

As the sun retreated towards the horizon, our massive group had moved off the road and made camp.

When I tried to offer my help when it came to making dinner, everyone insisted that I take it easy and rest. Even to the point of forbidding me from doing any work, I ended up together with Philia and a few others watching over all the kids.

"Miss Scarlet! Miss Scarlet!"

The moment I sat down and placed Alicia and Fate into my lap, Flix came up.

Being one of the few people in our group that was good at magic, she was one of the people tasked at starting the fires for both the camp and for cooking. It looked like she had rushed and finished her work before coming back.

"Oh, are you finished? Good work Flix."

I gave the little foxkin a pat on the head. The girl narrowed her eyes while giggling as I scratched the back of her ears.

But as I was enjoying the softness of her ears, something grabbed my arm, stopping me from continuing the patting.

"Mmmm!"

"Mmmmm!"

My daughters pouted one after the other as Alicia and Fate held onto my arm firmly.

In turn, realizing that the head pats had stopped, Flix's eyes narrowed as she quietly revealed a fang.

"Alright, you three. Stop it."

Three pairs of eyes all turned towards me, seemingly their feud having been forgotten in an instant.

"Alicia, Fate, you two have to share. Not just with each other, but with others as well."

The two of them looked devastated as the grabbed the chest of my dress.

"But...but...!"

"Mommy...!"

"No. You two need to learn to share. Even if it's just a bit."

My babies dropped their faces as their started to sniffle. Their hands though, refused to let go of my dress. Even still, the very sight tore at me, and it wasn't long before I was patting the two of them on the head.

"Flix, you too. Alicia and Fate are still only babies. You need to be more lenient on them, and let them get used to you more slowly."

"Yes Miss Scarlet."

The fox girl lowered hear head as well before making a bit of space.

After a bit longer, some of her friends from the orphanage called for her, so Flix went back. But she gave us all a long look before heading over, dragging her feet the whole way.

Once everybody ate and went to sleep, I was there, playing with Alicia and Fate.

Philia gave me a worried look for some reason, but everyone else immediately accepted my offer of taking the night watch.

Though a few of the adults sat around a fire taking turns watching out, though I didn't think there was much point in other people exhausting themselves when I wasn't even capable of sleeping in the first place. Combined with [Sense Presence], I could easily watch out for anything which might come close to our migratory group.

It was a good thing that I was keeping an eye out.

As the night rolled on, several presences popped up at the edge of my skill's perception. Then a few more from a different direction.

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Once I confirmed that they were headed straight towards us at a slow rate, I bent space in front of me and peeked at the presences from above.

They were armed people.

It was unfortunate, but it seemed like things really were getting bad in the city.

The decision to leave so quickly was probably a good one, as protecting everyone inside the city would be much harder than here out in the open.

Stretching my shadows out in both directions, they raced along the darkness before reaching both groups. A quick whack at the back of the head, and each member was knocked out. I threw their weapons away and moved the bodies further away so that nobody would notice them.

Then, I collected the tall grass around them and quickly wove them into a crude rope which I then tied their hands and feet together before forgetting about them.

A few hours later, another group appeared, and I did the same thing.

And a bit before dawn, three more groups showed up.

They got the same treatment as well.

In the end, everyone had breakfast and broke down camp before leaving, none the wiser of what had happened.

There wasn't any need to alarm anyone when it was already done with, and there was no point in burdening them with the thoughts of what might have happened.

As for the intruders, it wasn't my business anymore. They were shady as all hell, and I wasn't going to bring them back to the commonwealth just to judge them. As long as they didn't continue to chase after us, I would forget them, whatever their fate ended up being.

Two days later, and one more attack the second night, and we reached the village of Edgeworth.

Despite how massive our entourage was, we were somehow all let through the gates and inside the small village.

"Oh, Miss Scarlet! You've come back already!"

After the front guard and a few random villagers, the first person I could put a name to that greeted me was Mint, the local general store owner and the town's main peddler.

"Hey. Sounds like a festival or something."

Even from outside of the village, I could hear how noisy the people were being. Though it was hard to call it an actual festival due to the lack of any decorations, there did seem to be some sort of feast going on from the scent that was wafting around.

Quite a few people from our group looked hungry from all the walking as well.

"Well, less a festival and more a feast. Lady Orphne..."

At the sound of that term, my head snapped towards Mint from casually scanning around the area.

"Erm...I mean, Miss Orphne had come this morning. She brought lots of ingredients to share, so we decided to have a feast."

"I see..."

His wording reminded me that I had to deal with Orphne as well. Considering she was here at this moment, it seemed like this was the perfect opportunity to teach her a lesson.

"Where is Orphne anyways?"

"She should be in the village centre. Let me show you. Oh, there's enough food for everyone as well. Come!"

And with those words, Mint waved everyone over and we made our way to the open plaza. Quite a few of the children started to run as the scent of freshly prepared food grew thick in the air.

There, at the middle of everything, was a group of fairies dancing around while enjoying the food the villagers were making using the ingredients they brought. And right there, with them, I saw the one I was looking for.

"Go on. You should all enjoy yourselves and rest up. The rest of the journey is going to be long."

With my words of encouragement, everyone went along and enjoyed the food available.

"Ah! Scarlet! You're here!"

As everyone enjoyed their break after three days of near constant walking, Orphne noticed the sudden increase in numbers to her party and found the cause of it.

"Ehehe! Look who I brought!"

She waved her arm at the other fairies.

I recognized all of them. They were the fairies that used to be subordinated to Orphne before she got fired from her position as the leader of the fairy guard.

"You got my message."

"Master!"

Almost immediately after I spoke, a familiar face jumped out and rushed over.

"Good job Claret."

I handed her a mana treat. The first one in several days, so it was a bigger than usual.

Her eyes glittered as she held the treat in the air before promptly devouring it like a hungry animal.

"Me too me too! Did I do good? Do I get a treat?"

"Oh right."

I turned to the little fairy, who jerked back in an instant. Her expression filled with confusion and a bit of trepidation.

"Seems you've been doing some stuff behind my back, 'Lady Orphne'"

"Ah, umm, well..."

"So you understand why I'm angry. That's good. It makes things faster."

"No! I mean, I just thought, if they thought I was someone important, they'd know for sure that you'd be that much more important!"

On one level, I could understand and accept that logic.

But only on that one level.

"Lying's no good Orphne."

"But...but..."

"You need to be punished."

"Erk!"

The little fairy's face drained of all colour. I wasn't really one to dole out punishments in the first place, so I could only imagine how worried she was. She had no idea how lenient or harsh I would be.

Though personally I was one who preferred punishments that fit the crime. Weak punishments did a poor job of being a deterrent, and excessive punishments were just cruel.

"For lying and misrepresenting yourself for personal gain, for the next twenty four hours, no sweets."

And with that, I proclaimed my punishment to the crime Orphne had committed.

Maybe it was a bit soft, but hopefully it was strong enough to make her think twice before doing something like this again. If she did at least that, then this was a win in my books, even if it didn't completely stop her. I would only have to punish her again, but a bit more strongly next time.

And through that sort of trial and error, I should be able to find well balanced punishments when people do bad things.

"!!!"

Orphne jerked back and froze in place, as if she was struck by lightning.

"N...!"

"N?"

I leaned in, wondering what this weird reaction of hers was.

"Nwoooooooooo~~~!!!"

Thrusting her hands to her head, the little fairy slowly spiralled down through the air as she screamed melodramatically.

"Ummm...?"

A bit surprised by the exaggerated reaction, I couldn't do much but stare dumbfoundedly.

Eventually, the fairy's weird glide had her land on the ground, where she crouched, her hands still clutching her head as her scream faded.

All around us, the cheers had stopped and everyone was staring, putting even me on edge wondering just what was going on.

I leaned in, tempted to poke Orphne's unmoving body as she crouched down with her head hanging.

"Nwooooooo~~~!!!"

But suddenly she arched her back and let out another scream with her hands raised up in the air.

It was quite a good one actually. If there was a bit of reverb she could have passed herself off as the emperor's right hand.

After her second scream finally finished, Orphne shot back into the air and hovered in front of my face.

"Please, please please PLEASE! Anything but that!"

The sheer look of desperation on her face made me waver, and I almost went back on my words. But the thought that folding here would mean that she wouldn't learn her lesson, on top of the fact that it would make me less able to properly punish Alicia and Fate when I needed to. There wasn't any guarantee that they'd always be little angles after all.

Though I could always hope.

"No. You lied about who you were. Depending on who heard, things could have gotten pretty bad."

Despair filled the little fairy's face as tears ran down her cheeks in full force.

(Is...is this really that bad for her?)

"S..."

"?"

"Scarlet you stupid stink beetle~!"

Screaming that weird insult at the top of her lungs, Orphne sped off out of sight at full speed.

"..."

I couldn't help but wonder if maybe my punishment was a bit too harsh.

(I'll make it up to her tomorrow.)

Taking it back would make me look too weak so I couldn't do that. Especially with Alicia and Fate watching.

While we sat back and watched everyone relax and enjoy themselves, I got to work baking a black forest cake for the currently depressed fairy.

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